Here’s a snippet from Ukip’s 2010 general election manifesto:
“Ukip would place a maximum of three foreign players in the starting line-up, as this would free up places for British players in the youth academies of these teams and spur the future development of home teams.”
As Paul Haydon points out here,
That would force managers to make some pretty tough decisions about who they would keep and who they would give the boot. Where would that leave your favourite team? Who would you keep and who would you send home? Toure or Silva? Negredo or Aguero? Oscar or Hazard?
Well, now’s your chance to play ‘Ukip Manager’ and decide for yourself:
Click on any of the teams below to play UKIP Manager. Scroll up when you’re done to see how others voted, you can then let others know your top three choices on Twitter and Facebook using #UKIPmanager.
If you agree that UKIP’s off-the-wall ideas would be bad for the Premiership and bad for Britain, you can sign the Lib Dem #whyiamIN petition here.
Quite why a second-rate team like Man United is featured but not Everton is beyond me, but there are you are.
* Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.
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11 Comments
Don’t fret it Stephen. The transfer window that matters, will begin in earnest, in May 2014.
Lol! I tried to argue against limits on foreign players with a Labour supporting friend and even they thought it was a good idea to improve the England squad. Quite how making them train and compete with lesser players makes them better I don’t know. Maybe they would get to wear the magic boots :P.
PS, just signed the petition!
I clicked on the link, and the rationale states:
‘Ukip feels the [lack of success of British teams] is largely a legacy of many British teams having too few British players in the team, and teams like Arsenal have taken to the field in the recent past with none whatsoever ‘
Although it pains me to admit it, I do think that UKIP have a valid point.
The other slightly odd thing about this quote is that it is supposedly copied from their manifesto. As far as I can see, the party always self-identifies their name all in capitals. Journalists tend to put it into mixed case. I think that the all capitals version is strictly correct. We do not write ‘Uk’ or ‘Eu’ or ‘Cbi’ or ‘Fifa’ (except the Guardian in the latter example.)
We should stop obsessing about UKIP. It just encourages them. This is also a bit of an own goal, because we have frequently heard commenters say that they have no policies other then around the EU and immigration and HS2. Now highlighting that they do indeed have policies (however strange) means that we cannot use that argument any more.
This is where the strange arrangement of the UK in sport rears its ugly head, as, I think, the only country that enters 4 teams in some international competitions. If you cut down the numbers of players truly from ‘abroad’ in the English league, which I presume would cut down those from the Irish Republic too, you revert to the former situation when many English clubs depend on players from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
It’s time for us to make it clear we hate anything to do with nations, and particularly the UK. We should have open borders to the world with full access to benefits from day 1.
David, you’re a little ahead of 1 April
I know nothing about the world of football, but others do, so printed this off to inspire our helpers at today’s action day 🙂
I question all of the above comments as to how many actually show support for football by playing it. It is obvious to me that they enjoy it as spectators, nothing more. UKIP’s plans are to make the game itself more accessible, through schools, opening up the huge pool of talent that is Britain itself. Of course you can always keep the status quo, keep it as it is and believe that a mere handful of elites, perhaps 1%, is enough to carry all the dreams of the other 99%. It simply cannot work hence leaving us in the shameful position of having to import talent!
UKIP’s policies are not anti foreigner:they are pro British. This whole website is devoted to trashing the game and promoting it as an elitist’s sport where where the you and I and indeed our kids, will simply miss out. I prompt all to reconsider their anti UKIP stance.
Gulp! As a Fulham season ticket holder I have strong views about the players in the squad, including who should be traded away. And yesterday the manager made exactly the transfers that I would have done, so for the rest of the season I have a sense of responsibility for the success or failure of the team. It’s quite exciting and at the same time a bit unnerving.
I wonder if post-May the relegation struggles of the Liberal Democrats will bring about similar changes in their first team that would both give me hope and a sense of ownership in the outcome…
Pat, my mates and I play every week. If a club thinks fans would rather watch English and local players then they are free to sign more English and local players. The problem with UKIP’s proposal is that it is anti-freedom and forces clubs to adopt their worldview.
We’re not talking about a monopoly that needs to be tackled here – there are plenty of English clubs :). UKIP are starting with a blank manifesto for 2015 anyway, so I don’t think this will make it in!